PHOENIX — Roger Goodell tried to walk the difficult line between humility and authority in his annual pre-Super Bowl press conference on Friday. Given the NFL commissioner's robotic nature, it's not surprising that he tripped over that line a number of times.

Yet when Goodell had finished after 48 minutes, the hottest talk was not about what he said, but who was not there. Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who rattled his sword in Goodell's direction Monday night over Deflategate and has been a regular at these state of the league affairs, was nowhere to be found.

Even the most eloquent and nimble of speakers — Goodell is neither — is going to have a difficult time simultaneously playing good-cop, bad-cop in front of hundreds of reporters. Goodell tried Friday, and the harder he tried, the more thankful he had to be for the logistical questions about what London, Las Vegas and Los Angeles could do about getting a franchise and what St. Louis and Buffalo could do about not losing one.

"It has been a tough year," Goodell said. "It's been a tough year on me personally. It's been a year of what I would say is humility and learning. We obviously as an organization have gone through adversity, but more importantly, adversity for me. It's an opportunity for us to get better.

"We've all done a lot of soul searching, starting with yours truly."

There were some tough questions, some really tough ones. A reporter from The New York Times asked pointedly if Goodell was going to take a pay cut this year. GQ recently crushed Goodell, who made $44 million last year, in a withering piece for jabbing his employees for being overpaid. That one had to sting. A Denver TV reporter asked Goodell if he could envision any set of circumstances that would lead him to resigning or getting fired.

There was no way Goodell was going to win this day and he didn't. With the Ray Rice video, Adrian Peterson, domestic violence issues, Goodell had the horrible sort of year that would make CEOs in other avenues of business fear for their jobs. Not Goodell. The NFL brand seemingly can withstand just about anything.

So Goodell got cocky at times.

Although he made it clear that no decision had been made on any potential further discipline of Marshawn Lynch for bucking media obligations, Goodell said, "It is part of your job and there are things we all have to do in our job that we may not necessarily want to do … everyone else is cooperating." When pressed on Richard Sherman's assertion that Goodell should have to be available every week like the players are, the commissioner replied that he is available to the media almost every day. That set off a flood of tweets from all sorts of reporters who have been turned down for requests and had no access to Goodell. Ouch.

Carroll was witty, expansive and enthusiastic during a joint news conference Friday morning. Belichick was monotone and careful, warming up as the session progressed...

That wasn't Goodell's biggest mistake, however. Rachel Nichols lit up Goodell during the Ray Rice press conference in the fall and if there was anyone for whom he should not have lost his cool, it's the talented and responsible CNN reporter. On Friday, Nichols pressed Goodell on paying outside investigators such as Robert Mueller for the Rice investigation and Ted Wells for Deflategate to take on league issues. She also pointed out that Kraft helps pay his salary. So even when you do everything right, she asked, what kind of steps could be taken to alleviate the appearance of conflict of interest?

"I don't agree with you on a lot of the assumptions you make in your question," Goodell said. "I think we have had people that have uncompromising integrity."

Then he added: "Somebody has to pay them, Rachel. Unless you're volunteering, which I don't think you are, we'll do that."

It was a condescending answer, one that smelled of the lack of humility that Goodell had just professed to have gained.

Yet even as Goodell went through a number of items, such as the league's plan to hire a chief medical officer and the continued experimentation with making the extra point more difficult, he had no real answers about the use of deflated footballs by the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game.

"We take seriously anything that potentially impacts the integrity of the game," Goodell said. "We are focusing principally on two questions: Why were some footballs used in the game that were not in compliance with the rule? And was this the result of deliberate action? We don't know enough in this case to know who is responsible or if there was an infraction.

"I want to emphasize, we have made no judgments on these points and we will not compromise the investigation by engaging in speculation."

Of course, he didn't explain that there are leaks in the league office that have helped set off the speculation.

On Thursday, NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino said the records of the exact PSI on the footballs before the AFC Championship Game were not recorded. Referee Walt Anderson tested the footballs and either approved them or disapproved them. And on Friday, Goodell said he didn't know if any footballs had been tested at halftime of any games before the AFC Championship Game. So many unanswered questions.

"When Ted Wells has completed his investigation and made his determination based on all relevant evidence," Goodell said, "we will share his report publicly."

Deflategate has gotten beyond messy. Sherman said he didn't expect Kraft to be punished as long as he and the commissioner were being photographed in each other's homes. In its story, GQ quoted a league executive as calling Kraft "assistant commissioner." Goodell immediately answered that he wouldn't stop going to parties like the one at Kraft's house before the AFC title game — even if it doesn't look good.

"I was at the Kraft residence along with season ticketholders, sponsors and media partners the night before as part of an AFC Championship Game party," Goodell said. "That's part of what we do. I was there participating in a program with our partner CBS, taking questions from the audience. It's not unusual.

"I work very closely with ownership, particularly someone like Robert Kraft, who serves on multiple committees … the broadcast committee … the finance committee … several important league initiatives. Professionally, I have a relationship with him. I also admire, respect and think very highly of him on a personal level. So there is no hiding from that standpoint. But since he knows me so well, he knows that I am not going to do anything to compromise the integrity of the league. I think he has no doubt that I will do the right thing for the NFL."

As soon as he landed in Phoenix, however, Kraft came out swinging, saying that the NFL owes the Patriots an apology if the Wells investigation shows no wrongdoing. The fact that Kraft wasn't in attendance Friday raises questions and smells of a rift with Goodell. And a rift with a group of powerful owners is about the only thing that could cost Goodell job security.

"This is my job," Goodell said. "This is my responsibility — to protect the integrity of the game. I represent 32 teams. All of us want to make sure that the rules are being followed, and if we have any information where the potential is that those rules were violated, I have to pursue that and I have to pursue that aggressively. It is what all 32 clubs expect and what I believe our partners, our fans expect. It is important for it to be fair.